What is the Jehovah's Witness Hospital Liaison Committee?

Question

So I hear there is a secret group of men in the Jehovah's Witnesses, and they call themselves the "Hospital Liaison Committee". Great mystery enshrouds this group of men, yet they serve but two important purposes:

1. Visit Jehovah's Witnesses in the the hospitals while they are on their deathbeds and get them to sign over everything they own to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, and screw the families over. They have all the legal documents in their briefcases, so all they need to do is ask for a few moments of privacy, and the family doesn't find out until after the death.

2. Prevent blood transfusions to Jehovah's Witnesses. In some cases, this leads to the scenario in number 1 above, thereby more profit.

Is this true? Does this "Hospital Liaison Committee" really exist to trick old people on their deathbed to sign everything over like that? Do they get a percent of the estates? What's going on in Jehovah's Witnesses?

Answer 1

The Jehovah's Witness Hospital Liaison Committee exist to prevent Jehovah's Witnesses who are in hospital from accepting a blood transfusion.



Extract from the Circuit Overseers Guidelines manual on section dealing with Hospital Liaison Committee and Blood Transfusions: “When a child is hospitalized, elders should meet with the child’s parents to review the document How Parents Can Protect Their Children From Misuse of Blood (S-55). (Chapter 11 – point 3)”



There is no truth in your allegation that they attempt to screw money out of Jehovah's Witnesses who are on their deathbed. However, Circuit Overseers are mandated to screw as much money as they can out of congregations in their circuit. See the article below:

Answer 2

Stop being an idiot. That is the mist stupid things I have heard and that is saying something.



A HLC is no secret at all. Simply a small group of brothers in each congregation that looks after the interests of Jehovah's Witnesses in hospitals. We have the no blood card with us. They speak to the doctors and nurses concerning our no blood transfusion beliefs.



They will also do anything they can for the sick ones. Not too different from the Clergies wandering the halls of hospitals.



They do this for free and never try to do the idiotic things you claim. I have been in the hospital several times.. Mostly so far, I have not needed them. My next time, I could need them and they would be there for me.

Answer 3

"What is the Jehovah's Witness Hospital Liaison Committee?"



It is a group of JW elders in different regions of countries globally formed to assist hospital patients who are Jehovah's Witnesses to be able to liaise with medical staff [especially surgeons and anesthetists] where issues arise concerning their treatment.



Most frequently it involves the stand of JWs to refuse blood, based on the principle found at Deuteronomy 12:23, that even in the Catholic RSVCE reads:



"Only be sure that you do not eat the blood; for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh."



So then, if it is bad enough to eat [or drink] "the life" where it is limited largely to the digestive tract, how much worse to have "the life" transfused, where it permeates the entire system?



Where JWs encounter resistance or objections by operating staff to their treatment, they can then contact their regional Hospital Liaison representative who will discuss with them what steps they have already taken to resolve the situation themselves, and, if requested, intercede on their behalf with the medical staff involved in an endeavor to reach a satisfactory solution.



Hospital Liaison representatives will do so only if JW patients request their help.



If you go to:



http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=Hospital+Liaison+Committee&p=par



there are numerous accounts of JWs who have served on Hospital Liaison Committees, so they are scarcely a "secret group" enshrouded in "great mystery." [but it was good for a laugh].



Hopefully, you will discern that your points no's 1 and 2 are baseless.



Indeed, I would be fascinated to hear where you got your information.

Answer 4

There's nothing secretive about it as JW answers here have shown. But if you are Joe Bloggs, a mere member of the public, and not of the Watchtower Society, you will think it's secretive because you are not in the know - in the club.



JWs are encouraged to sign a medical directive, before any medical emergency arises, refusing whole blood treatment. But because their Society has now 'allowed' a wide range of blood treatments involving blood fractions, the matter is so complicated, specialist knowledge of such medical treatments is required to navigate this potential medical mine-field. (It's only a minefield for JWs in a medical emergency, due to them refusing whole blood treatement.)



For years, the Watchtower Society has tried to deal with this by training local JW elders to become spokespersons for the JW in hospital (or bleeding to death by the roadside). The JW has agreed for that to happen, and so the medical staff have to speak to those elders, who explain what the JW can and cannot have. This means that the local elders get to know confidential medical matters, but the JW patient has agreed to that beforehand. They just want to survive their medical emergency and still be in good standing with the congregation, not having accepted a treatment their Society frowns upon. They don't want to be viewed as having disassociated themselves, you see. They want to survive Armageddon, you see.



From the JW point of view, the Hospital Liaison system is designed to help ensure this.

Unfortunately, the only way a JW can ensure they make their own decisions about medical treatment is not to sign that medical directive - but refusing to do that will cause elders to view them as 'spiritually weak' and so they won't get to become elders or have 'privileges of service' in the congregation. The pressure is really on the JWs to go along with this control mechanism. But it isn't what you imagine it is. Get rid of scenario No. 1 and your questions will be taken more seriously.

Answer 5

It's a health group which basically ensures that Jehovah's Witnesses get the best possible treatment if they need surgical procedures in hospital.

It is not secret. It is necessary because of our wishes to have procedures without the use of blood.



So, all that you have there stated is absolute rubbish and you have been grossly misinformed.

Answer 6

Well the Liaison Committee is a secret group and they actually are available to any Jehovah Witness for medical reasons only. And this was avery loving provision made because when certain medical issues arise they come to help and "not hurt". Also they do not receive any money for being their.







There aren't a mystery its just regular men and woman. And they help make decisions, give advice, and they are there for spiritual and emotional support but ultimately the person have to finalize it and know whats best for them. And most of these men and women have some or more training in the medical field so they are not inexperienced.





*Usually when the Liaison Committee visit it for a very serious reason because sometimes some people don't have anyone to help them during that time. And when they do visit the do not get paid its a volunteering out of their time because we really do love one another of our brothers and sisters.





*Blood transfusions are actually a sin because the bible commands that we not ingest blood. So we should not accept whole blood or its primary components in any form, whether offered as food or as a transfusion.









*(Acts 15:20) but to write them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood. So it highlights abstain . . . from blood.” God gave Christians the same command that he had given to Noah. History shows that early Christians refused to consume whole blood or even to use it for medical reasons. There are sound medical reasons to avoid blood transfusions. More important, though, God commands that we abstain from blood because what it represents is sacred to him.—Leviticus 17:11; Colossians 1:20.







SO overall "we do not profit off of the people" also we do not receive any payment like estates or money. Because above we want to honor Jehovah and we do our best to imitate Jesus Christ and are proud to be called Christians.











Here are some very helpful links to some of our many watchtowers(magazines), awakes, and bible questions, also life experiences. And this will help you answer your questions in depth:





Refusing Blood Transfusions Helps Witness Patients Do Better:

https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/living-bible-principles/witness-patients-do-better/#?insight[search_id]=739f1c73-203b-42a7-bd8a-fca7e1e788ac&insight[search_result_index]=5





Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Accept Blood Transfusions?:

https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jehovahs-witnesses-why-no-blood-transfusions/

Answer 7

I've known people on it. It's not necessarily secretive. They're there when it comes to blood transfusions. They have been known to guilt people, even threatening with discipline, into refusing a transfusion even if it means dying. This is where they cross the line. It has nothing to do with them, isn't their choice, and they shouldn't be around to try to make it for someone.



My uncle is one of them. I was highly offended once by how far he stuck his nose into someone's private medical business just to ensure that the rules of the cult were followed.

Answer 8

The Hospital Liaison Committee are part of a large organized system called Hospital Information Services, an organized global network, run by the Watchtower Society, whose aim it is to promote blood management as the "golden standard of care" for everybody worldwide.



The HLC is not secret but a lot of their activities and motives are.



Yes, the JWs are led to believe that the HLC are "helping" them by ensuring that "they have the best medical treatment possible".

However, what the HLC is actually for is to recruit subjects for pharma companies and to promote blood management. The HLC, from the viewpoint of the JW patient themselves, are a benign group of people who "have their best interests at heart". In actuality, the HLC has the best interests of pharma companies and blood management technology manufacturers at heart. They act as recruiters for those companies.



The HLC actually came about way back in the early 70s in Canada when certain medical technologies were emerging and those technologies needed to be tested with human subjects. The HLC was piloted in Canada but then became organized in the States in the 80s by Dr. Ron Lapin and the WT with the assistance of JWs who owned insurance companies and had financial interests in hospitals.



The HLC is a training ground for blood management "specialists". The JWs who are in positions that promote blood management got their start in the HLC network. The HLC is the stepping stone for blood management professionals like Shannon Farmer, Axel Hofmann, Jan Wade, Richard Melseth and others.



So, it depends on who you ask about the HLC - the JWs, of course, see them as "helping" but so do the pharma companies who get subjects channeled into their clinical trials and such. The HLC does things like arrange for drugs (hemopure, hemolink, stantate, etc) that do not have FDA clearance to be used on JWs under "compassionate care". This way, those pharma companies can keep certain medications on the market and can keep manufacturing those drugs even if the FDA hasn t cleared them.



Do the individuals JWs and even the guys who sign up for the "local HLC visiting committee" know all this? Of course not. So, if they answer this question with platitudes for the HLC and the standard party line of "they help us", do not be surprised. Those responses are uninformed and have been programmed to be said at the local level. The local level is innocent/ignorant of what really happens with the Hospital Information Services of the Watchtower Society and what their real purpose is.

Answer 9

That's the FUN about conspiracy theories.



If there is NO EVIDENCE that such a Secret Group actually exists, those who WANT to believe in the existence will claim that the fact there is NO EVIDENCE is absolute PROOF that the group's efforts to conceal themselves are SUCCESSFUL!



Meanwhile, speaking of well concealed groups:

Anybody have ANY testable evidence of the existence of ANY Gods or Goddesses?

Jehovah? Allah? Jesus? Quetzlcoatl? Phuquioras? Odin? Zeus?

Answer 10

Hospital Liason

Answer 11

I don't think there is anything insidious about it. From what I understand it is a group that meets with health boards to discuss how to treat witnesses in regards to blood transfusion and blood products etc.

Answer 12

Yes, it's true. IF there is no evidence other than confessions from people who managed to escape that cult (there are videos of them with their testimony all over youtube), there's the intimidation factor.

Answer 13

It's a group of JW window washers that force their followers to adhere to their no blood policy. They are aiding JWs in suicide and murder of their own.

Answer 14

Check it out

https://m.facebook.com/Eligos-1182167575156646/?ref=bookmarks

https://m.facebook.com/See-the-truth-1360742170618451/?ref=bookmarks